North Woods
by mellamolallama
Summary: Drawn to the north woods of upper Michigan, the Doctor encounters what others had called a mythical beast. With the help of Sienna, he tries to get to the bottom of these sightings which he's positive are not of this earth. Or any Earth.
1. Chapter 1

Sienna knew she should have checked her pockets before leaving the cabin. She knew the woods well, and didn't anticipate that she'd be out that long. Just a short walk to see if any cranes were nesting by the pond, she'd thought. Usually they'd come back by now, and had really hoped to nab a few photos for Instagram. Not that she got great cell service up here, but still. Now she was several acres deep into the family property, and saw the distinct movement of something big through the pines. She caught a glimpse of something brown through the boughs, and grimaced. She looked around, taking her time before she made her choice. She could stay put, but it was getting dark soon.

She hadn't seen any bears on the property in years, but knowing her luck it would be the first time now. Now that she forgot her phone in the kitchen. And no one would come check the cabin for at least a week, since she had to make a big deal back home about going off the grid—her version, at least.

She had turned slowly, hoping that by the time she'd made a full circle whatever-it-was in the pines would be gone. It was, but she couldn't help but hear the distinct rustle of underbrush nearby. Only now, she'd lost view.

"Please be a deer. _Please_ be a deer," she murmured.

"Be a dear and do what?" A voice called from behind her.

"JESUS." She shouted, whipping around to see a ruffled brunet head pop out from the cluster of ferns and raspberry bushes.

"Nope, just the Doctor. Hello!" The head grinned, although she noticed it was now not actually a floating head, but rather connected to a skinny man in a brown pinstriped suit. A pinstripe suit in the middle of _her_ woods.

"Uh…hi." She replied, lamely. "So, you're not a bear." She glanced around, looking for anyone else strange to pop up.

"Nope! Not a bear, not a deer—"

"Just a regular old British dude who is on my private property?" She supplied?

"Uh, something like that." He looked down at something metal in his hand, holding it up toward the sky and back to the ferns. "But," he looked back at her, "bears, huh. Been a lot of bear sighting in the area?"

"Well, not a lot. But you know how it is with Yoopers, everything's bears or wolves or whatever."

"I really wouldn't, first time here! I picked up some weird signals and here I am!" He grinned at her again, beamed really, as if that should be an answer to her question.

"You picked up some weird signals, on my property. In a full suit." Sienna backed away a bit, trying to reign in the situation. It wasn't uncommon for people to wander around on people's property, and it wasn't like she was here all the time. But she also knew that all sorts came around the backwoods here, and one never knew what exactly they were carrying. Or taking.

"Yup!"

"Weird signals… Wait, were you doing some geocaching and got lost or something? That you GSP?" She pointed at the silver thing in his hand.

He beamed at her again. "Yup, you're right! Always filling in the blanks, you lot!" He looked at his GSP again, a blue light on the end flashing and blinking off. "Arhg!" He pulled at his hair, glancing around again. "Lost. Lost lost lost is absolutely right."

Unconsciously checking her own braided hair, Sienna watched the Brit with consternation. "Uh, do you need to call someone? My cabin's not far off, but I really don't want people who shouldn't be here on my property…"

"Well, it's closer than my ship, I suppose. I'm sure I'll get some better readings there."

"Uh, sure. Your _car_ off on the other side of the property?" She started following the deer trail back through the pines and poplars.

"Sure" He mirrored. "So, we've established that I was _geocaching_, what were you doing out in the woods all by your lonesome…miss?"

"Sienna." She supplied. "I was trying to see if the cranes had come back. The pond," she waved vaguely toward the east, "is where a few couples nest every year. I haven't seen anything, but I've only been back for a few days. Don't know why they're not here, it's a little weird."

"I bet. Weird's my middle name! Well, not really, but it probably could be. Middle name's a weird concept though, isn't it?"

"Ok… And maybe you want to tell me your first before we get to middle, huh?" She stopped, turning to face him, expectantly.

"I already did, I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor…who?"

"Yes!"

"What's on second." Sienna muttered, turning back around. "Is that some British thing, like some guy down south insisting on being called Colonel?"

"See, there you, filling in the blanks. Astute, that's what you are."

"Kay…" She looked back, expecting to see some note of sarcasm on the Doctor's face. Instead, she saw a man with a genuine smile, hands stuffed in his pockets, and chucks stomping over the underbrush. They passed a few minutes in silence, the buzz of the occasional deer fly and a far off woodpecker the only sounds around them.

Until the beeping started.

And the smell.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello! This is my first fanfiction - please R&R and let me know what you think! Thanks!

* * *

_She looked back, expecting to see some note of sarcasm on the Doctor's face. Instead, she saw a man with a genuine smile, hands stuffed in his pockets, and chucks stomping over the underbrush. They passed a few minutes in silence, the buzz of the occasional deer fly and a far off woodpecker the only sounds around them._

_Until the beeping started._

_And the smell._

CHAPTER 2:

"Uhg. That your GPS beeping? You close to your coordinates?" Sienna asked, covering her face.

"Um, yes." The Doctor answered, a bit distractedly. He had pulled it out and was waving it around again, blue light flashing. "Oh, not good. Do you smell that? Not good."

"It's probably just some carrion, birds drop stuff in the woods sometimes. Maybe a coyote kill. Sorry, it's nature." She spoke through her shirt, trying to cover the smell of decaying flesh with her fabric softener.

"Could be. Could be something else…" The Doctor edged a bit closer to her, eyes darting between his GSP, Sienna, and the cluster of white pines a few yards off the trail. The wind shifted, the smell growing more and more pungent. "Stay here." The smile was gone from his face, replaced by a seriousness the crept into his voice. "When I say run, run."

"Uh, it's my property."

"Yeah, well, who's the alien expert here, huh?"

"What?!" Sienna shook her head, thoroughly regretting her life choices over the past few hours. "Christ, I've picked up a lunatic." She started to pull away from the pinstriped "alien expert" as he was distracted, only to have him pull on the side of her sweatshirt.

"Stay still."

"Let go of me!" She didn't want to panic, but as she struggled halfhearted the smell grew worse. Like meat sat out in the sun for days and old bones and disease and decay and things that simply that fettered her heart, things that evolution had bred into her DNA as _bad, bad, run, get away!_

The Doctor gripped her shirt in his left hand, right pointing the GSP at the cluster. "Got you!" he shouted, letting go of her so suddenly she rocked off balance, bounding toward the trees.

"No!" The words slipped out before she could stop, her pulse pounding in her ears. Why was she so afraid, there's nothing there but a crazy man in a suit running toward probably a dead fawn. She glanced quickly up the deer trail, wondering if she could sprint back to the cleared out trail and get away.

She saw it then, out of the corner of her eye. Tall, taller than the Doctor, skinny with the smell of death and fear surrounding it. She dropped to a crouch, the words _suppurated_ and _festering_ running through her mind as she whimpered. The Doctor shot a quick look back at her from the cluster of pines, mouthing "STAY."

_I'm not a dog_, she thought, shaking her head and breaking through her fear. "This isn't real." She whispered.

"It's very real, I'm afraid." The Doctor shot back at her, backing up slowly as the creature followed him. "Extra-ordinary, but real." He had the tone of someone trying to remain calm, if only for someone else's sake.

A chill ran down her spine as Sienna craned her neck. A second and third joined the first creature. Their eyes trained on the Doctor, who was only a few yards to her right now.

"_HUNGRY._" She heard them, somehow, although she didn't see their pale lips move. "_DOCTOR. NEW MEAT. __**HUNGRY**_."

"I'm sure you are." The Doctor stated emphatically. "Let me take you home, you'll be better there. I promise."

"**_HUNGRY!_**" They screamed. Sienna held her breath, muscles taut. She felt frozen, waiting to see what would happen.

She couldn't remember, later, how she knew what would happen. It felt like it all happened in one moment. The first creature lunged toward the Doctor, so she did too. She felt the creature swipe its clawed hand into her side, knocking both her and the Doctor over, tumbling into the ferns. The Doctor held his GPS high, a bright blue light pulsing into the air light like a burst through a sunshower. The creatures screamed one high pitched noise, then seemingly disappeared into the woods again.

Sienna let out the breath she'd been holding, through her blood was pumping hard. The Doctor bounced back up, pulling her up with him. She shook her hands, trying to regain some feeling into her body as she overloaded on adrenaline.

"Well!" The Doctor checked his metal tool again – she was positive now it wasn't a GPS – and turned around quickly. "You alright?"

"Yeah sure. Um." She paused, finding it a bit hard to catch her breath. "The fuck just happened?" She paused again. "Did you said alien expert? Who are you? What the fuck just happened here? How do you get to be an alien expert?"

He looked at her quizzically. "Takes one to know one, I guess. You just saw all that happen and you first question is my credentials?!"

"I… Huh. Give me a second to process this here."

He waited a few more that a second, but didn't seem in a rush.

"You were not geocaching. And that's not a GPS. And you're not some old British dude. And those were aliens."

"Nope! Nope! Nope! And correct!"

"And you're an alien. With a weird alien tool thing. Who is hunting other aliens."

"Right on the ball!" He grinned at her; she recognized that look from her own students, when one of them got something exceptionally correct.

"Well then."


End file.
